Northern Province Governor Hon. N. Vethanayahan has announced that the ‘Rural Light Life Project’, the first ever community-level participants project in Sri Lanka, and Phase II of the already implemented ‘Clear Vision, Bright Future’ project targeted at school students in the Northern Province will commence soon.
A special discussion to examine the effective implementation of these projects was held in two sessions at the Governor’s Secretariat today – on Tuesday (24 February 2026) evening.
At the beginning of the discussion, the Governor expressed his special thanks to the medical team led by Dr. M. Malaravan, Eye Surgeon at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, who is the main driving force behind these projects, and to Dr. Velayutham Sarveswaran for providing financial support.
The Governor noted: “In Sri Lanka, only in our province has such an eye screening camp targeted at school students been successfully conducted, with free spectacles provided to the students. After the completion of the first phase of the project, a report on it was sent to the Ministry of Health. Subsequently, during an important discussion, it was recommended that other provinces follow our province’s project as a model. In this regard, we are setting an example for the other provinces.”
Furthermore, taking into account past experiences, he requested full cooperation from all parties to successfully complete Phase II by giving priority this time to newly enrolled Grade 1 students and students who missed screenings last year.
Following this, Eye Surgeon Dr. M. Malaravan expressed gratitude to everyone who cooperated in successfully completing the first phase. He stated that the Phase II activities are expected to be completed within the next six months and requested that the Governor’s Office act as a coordinating center for this project.
He listed the challenges faced when implementing the project in schools in the past and expressed confidence that they could be avoided this time to proceed more quickly. He said he is ready to provide training to teachers for identifying students, and that clusters can be formed according to the number of students in each zone to conduct screening camps. He also emphasized that public health inspectors must be mandatorily present at the locations where these camps are held, and shared his suggestions on how the project could be expanded in the future to include preschool children.
Northern Province Education Ministry Secretary M. Patrick Diranjan pointed out that despite some initial challenges, the first phase was successfully completed, and stated that with the full cooperation of zonal education directors, Phase II can be successfully implemented. He also requested the medical expert to check whether any changes are needed in the spectacles provided to students in the past.
Northern Province Acting Director of Health Services Dr. A. Ketheeswaran stated that school principals should request the relevant public health inspectors for the camps in their schools through the relevant Medical Officer of Health, and if proper cooperation is not received, zonal education directors should be instructed to immediately inform the Regional or Provincial Director of Health Services.
The Governor requested the full cooperation of District Secretaries for the ‘Rural Light Life Project’ for community-level participants, which will be implemented for the first time in Sri Lanka. He pointed out that this project will be implemented under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and directly overseen by the Northern Province Governor’s Office.
Explaining the project, medical expert Dr. M. Malaravan said that villages across the five districts of the Northern Province will be categorized based on poverty levels, and camps will be conducted accordingly. It was stated that when conducting camps in each village, sports clubs, community-level organizations, field officers, and security forces can be involved to create awareness among the people and coordinate them.
Furthermore, it was decided during the discussion to conduct screenings related to non-communicable diseases through the Northern Province Health Department in conjunction with these special eye screening camps, update the relevant data, and provide treatment to those in need.
This special discussion was attended by several officials, including the Secretary to the Governor Northern Province, Secretaries of the Provincial Education and Health Ministries, District Secretaries, Additional District Secretaries, Provincial Director of Health Services and Provincial Director of Education, Zonal Education Directors, Assistant Directors of Education, and doctors.
